‘I just believed in his talent. I thought he could reveal something about his inner soul,’ filmmaker Mark O’Connor told JOE.
Mark O’Connor’s tense new Irish thriller Amongst the Wolves is in cinemas now. The movie continues the writer-director’s hot streak of telling stories that mix hard-hitting depictions of crime with important social realism.
As well as this, though, the filmmaker is also known for discovering young talent – having worked with the likes of Barry Keoghan, John Connors, Peter Coonan and Alisha Weir early in their careers.
Keoghan, in fact, appeared in O’Connor’s first three features. He had small roles in Between the Canals and King of the Travellers before being cast in a co-lead part in the director’s third movie, Stalker, in 2012.
When JOE interviewed O’Connor about Amongst the Wolves (you can read he and co-writer’s Luke McQuillan’s comments about the thriller here), we also asked him about his experiences working with Keoghan.
In particular, we were curious about what it was about Keoghan’s minor part in Between the Canals that made the director eager to work with him again.
“Barry Keoghan was just in one scene in Between the Canals, actually, but I just thought that he had the talent to play the lead in my third feature film, Stalker,” he told us.
“A lot of people were telling me not to cast him in the lead. That kind of happened a few times.”
O’Connor has previously discussed how he pushed for RTÉ to give Keoghan his now iconic Love/Hate role after the broadcaster initially didn’t want to cast him.
“I just believed in his talent. I thought he could reveal something about his inner soul. That’s what I would look for in an actor, just that authenticity of character,” O’Connor told JOE.
We also mentioned to the director how he used to recommend Marlon Brando, French New Wave and Italian neo-realism movies to the young Keoghan.
JOE then asked O’Connor if he was heartened to see Keoghan’s vast success, particularly as it’s come from working with great directors and making very interesting films.
“It’s incredible seeing Barry’s success. It’s amazing, and I wish him all the best. He’s a brilliant actor, he’s really evolved as well, and he keeps going up a level,” the director said.
“And it’s interesting because I look back at the process we went through on Stalker and discussing all these types of movies and the way to perform, to behave, rather than act on screen. And a lot of those things I can see him [doing] in the films later on.”
It was then O’Connor revealed one particular moment on set with Keoghan for Stalker where he realised the actor’s brilliance:
“We were in the park shooting a scene for Stalker. He was like: ‘What am I going to do with my hands here, Mark. I don’t know what to do with my hands.’
“He took out a lighter. I said: ‘Just move it around. Do you remember that scene with Brando in On the Waterfront when he picks up the glove and he starts playing with it.’ I said: ‘Do something like that.’
“And he starts lighting his runner on fire, and I was like: ‘That was brilliant!’ Because it’s exactly like what his character would do.”
In the wake of Keoghan’s acclaimed roles in The Banshees of Inisherin and Saltburn, clips of the actor as a teen in Stalker have gone viral, something which O’Connor finds funny.
@ripeharpoon Film is stalker (2012) btw (you can veiw on youtube) #barrykeoghan #ilovetheirish ♬ escape – Kilgore Doubtfire
“Stalker is starting to get some popularity online,” O’Connor said, laughing.
“We never released Stalker, really. No one has seen it. It’s a feature film, and it’s Barry’s first [major role in a] feature film.
“So, it’s funny seeing people watch it now, and it’s blowing up online, on TikTok. It’s fun.”
Amongst the Wolves is in cinemas now.
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